Republican lawmakers on Tuesday unveiled their agenda for the legislative session in broad strokes ranging from a “parents bill of rights” to protecting the fossil fuel industry from organized boycotts to stepping up efforts ensuring welfare eligibility.
GOP legislators introduced their “Better Way” agenda, which covers broad areas of taxes, health care, education, the economy, welfare reform and law enforcement. The top Senate Democrat criticized the agenda as out of step with voters.
The Republican agenda lays out a road map of where the GOP is headed this year without digging into the details of how those ideas might be implemented.
The GOP proposals do not dovetail with Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s desire to expand Medicaid, legalize medical marijuana or add money for special education.
“Today we get to work, and we are all ready to get to work,” said House Speaker Dan Hawkins.
Hawkins acknowledged that the agenda was focused on broad issues important to the Republican caucus and didn’t get into bill-level detail.
The Republicans introduced their agenda the day before the governor was supposed to make her annual State of the State address, which was delayed until after she was diagnosed with COVID-19 Tuesday.
The agenda touches on old Republican initiatives such as encouraging school choice, banning transgender athletes from competing in women sports and a parents bill of rights.
“Parents need choice. Kids need choices,” said Senate President Ty Masterson.
“We are looking for opportunities to work with this administration,” Masterson said.
“We hope to find her in the middle somewhere and actually have real choices for parents and students,” he said.
In the past, Republican lawmakers have considered something known as education savings accounts, which allow at-risk students attending public schools to take their state base aid to a private school.
Republican state Rep. Kristey Williams, chair of the K-12 Budget Committee, told reporters that lawmakers were considering “universal savings accounts to allow the money to follow the student and not fund the systems first.”
“We want to fund the students first,” she said.
“We want choice for our Kansas kids so that every kid gets the best kind of education for them,” Williams said.
The Republican plan also calls for stopping fraud by regularly checking the eligibility of Kansans receiving public assistance and guaranteeing those who can’t work are first to get services.
They want to require what they call “real work searches” to obtain unemployment benefits.
They want to battle the fentanyl crisis and the increase in drugs coming across the nation’s southern border and ensure the Highway Patrol is fully staffed and well managed.
Republican state Sen. J.R. Claeys, along with state Rep. Steven Owens of Hesston, have been working on legislation that would move the Highway Patrol over to Attorney General Kris Kobach.
Claeys, who also works as an adviser to Kobach, is crafting a bill giving the attorney general the power to appoint the head of the Highway Patrol instead of the governor.
Claeys and Owens have voiced concern about staffing levels at the Highway Patrol amid lawsuits that have accused the patrol’s top leadership of fostering a hostile work environment of sexual harassment and gender discrimination.
Data presented to a special joint legislative committee studying state employee compensation last fall showed there were 464 sworn officers in 2021, down from 547 in 2019. The civilian staff is down 10 people in 2022 from 2019.
Earlier data obtained from the patrol showed the agency with 519 sworn officers in 2018 and 496 the year before.
The GOP also wants to take on the national battle over state money managers using environmental, social responsibility and corporate governance guidelines – otherwise known as ESG – in deciding where they want to put their money.
There was a brief hearing on the issue in the Legislature last year, and legislation proposed to address the ESG investing didn’t go anywhere.
There was some scant mention of it in the race for Kansas treasurer last year, and former Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt joined a national investigation of major banks over ESG investing practices.
It’s a debate that’s caught fire across the nation, especially from Republican lawmakers who fear that state money managers are using their political preferences to guide where their investments are made, away from fossil fuels and into green energy.
ESG has emerged as one of the most significant developments in corporate management and high finance in recent years, although its definition is murky and can depend on the eye of the beholder if not their political outlook.
The term, for some, can be the benign incorporation of environmental, social and governance issues into an investment analysis.
Or it can drift into what some have characterized as “woke capitalism” as wealth managers have been accused of steering money to businesses that reflect their political leanings – away from fossil fuels and into green energy, for instance.
Hawkins conceded that the ESG issue wasn’t quite ripe last year.
“This year, it’s very ripe,” Hawkins said. “In fact, it’s starting to smell a little bit.”
Republicans want to authorize the attorney general to investigate any companies that “conspire” to restrict the oil and gas industry.
Hawkins said the goal is to prevent state money managers who oversee state pension funds from making investment decisions based on political preference such as choosing to boycott fossil-fuel producers.
“Fossil fuels have to be here,” Hawkins said.
“We have to continue with all forms of energy policy not just take out fossil fuels,” he said. “There are going to be a lot of people upset if that happens.”
The Republican caucus didn’t mention it specifically, but last summer, West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore announced that five financial institutions were no longer eligible for state banking contracts after determining they were boycotting fossil fuel companies.
The ban applied to BlackRock Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo & Co.
Moore had pushed for a law that allowed the state to disqualify financial institutions that were found to be boycotting energy companies.
Dinah Sykes, the top Democrat in the Senate, said the Republican plan ignores the will of the voters.
“Kansas Republicans never fail to receive clear evidence of their constituents’ positions on issues and proceed to take the opposite tract,” Sykes said.
“Our state soundly rejected the leadership-sponsored constitutional amendment that would have stripped Kansans of their freedom and ability to determine their futures.
“Then we re-elected a governor with a strong vision for the state that promotes innovation, unity, and prosperity for all Kansans. The Republican legislative agenda does the opposite.
“And despite holding a supermajority and being positioned to pass whatever they want, today’s announcement lacked any specificity that would lead to their proposed Better Way.
“I look forward to hearing Gov. Kelly’s address to the Legislature…for tangible, pragmatic policies that will move Kansas forward.”
